Tell us about your rugby career in Romania?
I signed my first contract over here in November 2020 at a team called Dinamo Bucharest. I made my debut for them that same month in a cup semi-final which we unfortunately lost. I came off the bench and gave a try assist and got a late hit and tore my ACL and meniscus which had me off the field for 19 months.
Tell us about your recent episode with Wegians?
My contract ended in December 2022 so came back to Wegians to find the love of the game again. I did, playing in the 2022/2023 season for the Blues and in summer 2023 signed to my current club Rapid București.
Tell us about your current team?
Rapid București are a very young team, more so a project made up of only Romanian qualified players made to grow the youth, because the youth system here fails the younger players as there’s not much funding for the grassroots clubs.
For most of these boys it was their first time playing a senior game and they did exceptional. We’re being coached by two Romanian rugby legends Stelian Burcea, former captain and centurion, and Florin Vlaicu, who currently holds the records for the most caps for Romania and most points with over 1000 scored in international games.
On the players side of things we have some great players with experience with us on the field to help the younger lads grow such as Florin Bardasu and Alexandru Savin who are currently national front rows and have been a great part in our team, and another centurion Florin Surugiu who is arguably the best scrum half Romania ever had.
International Aspirations?
I haven’t made my first senior cap yet but I’ve been in and out of the camps and hopefully soon it will happen.
Throughout the camps I’ve been learning from some great coaches such as current head coach David Gerard Benjamin Lapeyre and former Portugal head coach Patrice Lagisquet
What does Galwegians mean to you?
Wegians will always have a special place in my heart, I was welcomed when I started in U13s all the way up to when I came back from my spell in Romania.
A special shout-out to my underage coaches Niall Beatty, Pat Surlis and Eamonn Hornibrook who always pushed me to my potential and made me the player I am today. No matter what problems I had on or off the pitch, they always stuck by me and treated me as their own.
No matter how long I play abroad, Wegians is and always will be the place I call home.